Memories
by KMountain
Summary: It is the anniversary of Ryou's mother and sister's death. Ryou is left grieving so Bakura tries to comfort him in his own way.


Ryou hits the off button on his alarm clock. He isn't sure why he set it. Probably some cruel joke he was playing on his mind so he could be aware of the day. It was a few years ago today that his mother and sister had went for a drive and never came back.

_"Are you Bakura Ryou?" A police officer asks the boy and when he receives a nod continues talking. "I have some bad news. Bakura Amane and Bakura Asami are both believed to be deceased."_

_Ryou stares at the officer, thinking maybe that this were a joke. How could someone deliver such harsh news with such a straight face? It is probably some guy that his friends hired to play a prank. The thought disappears quickly when the officer hands him a letter with the address of the city morgue on it._

"_We need someone to identify the bodies." The officer says with the same blank expression. "We usually don't ask teenagers but since your father is away, we have no choice."_

_The teen looks at the address in shock. He can't bring himself to form a coherent thought or sentence and by the time he figures out what he wants to say, the officer is already headed back to his car. Tomorrow Ryou will be looking at the lifeless bodies of his family._

He curls himself up into a protective ball under the sheets trying to forget this memory. That day was always in Ryou's mind but he tried to forget it by distracting himself with RPG games or schoolwork.

Ryou feels his breath hitch and he knows that he will be crying soon. He tries again to push the thoughts of his family's death aside and closes his eyes tightly against the threatening tears but within the darkness of his mind, images of the corpses he had to identify flash.

_There is no doubt in Ryou's mind when he sees the bodies. They belong to Amane and his mother. Their features are still recognizable but they were lifeless and twisted. Amane has blood in her hair and his mother's limbs are in strange positions. There are bruises all over each of their bodies. It is obvious that it had been a violent crash_.

_Dead on Arrival is what the doctors tell Ryou. They try to comfort him by telling him that they probably died instantly, feeling no pain. He doesn't believe this and wants to grab the bodies and shake them thinking that maybe if he hoped hard enough that they will wake up. Instead he signs the identification paper and leaves the building. Looking at their lifeless bodies hurt too much._

Ryou opens his eyes and lets the tears flow freely now. He had tried to phone his father after visiting the morgue but that was almost an impossible task so he had mourned by himself. The same way he was mourning now. The teen is familiar with being alone but today he wishes for someone he can share his pain with.

"Landlord," A voice that he has grown to recognize speaks to him. "Do you know why I'm collecting the millennium items?"

"Please, leave me alone today." Ryou responds wanting to be left with his own thoughts.

"All you ever do is ask me why and now that I'm willing to explain, you don't want to listen? You won't get a second chance for this story." The voice says sharply

Ryou sighs annoyed and sits up. When he composes himself, he is surprised to see the voice in ethereal form. It is something done rarely for the voice doesn't usually communicate with the teen. He simply takes the physical body at will.

"Despite what you may think, I do have a reason for collecting the items. When I possessed my own body, I had a family." Bakura, the name the voice had given himself, starts off.

Bakura explains the destruction of his village and once in awhile sends Ryou mental flashes of things he cannot accurately describe in words. He ends the story on one of these flashes. Through Bakura's eyes, Ryou sees as people are mindlessly slaughtered and then having their corpse thrown into a pot with melted gold. The teen gasps when he realizes what the gold and human combination created.

"This is why the millennium items belong to me." Bakura growls.

"But why are you showing this to me?" Ryou asks quietly and confused.

"You aren't the only person to lose loved ones, landlord. The difference is how people cope. I, personally, chose to use the energy for something productive while others waste away in sorrow."

Ryou tries to respond but the spirit has already retreated back to the ring, leaving his other alone once again. He mulls over the words that the voice had told him and realizes that he is in the latter category. Although Ryou won't turn to revenge, he decides to change this. He grabs a pen and paper from his desk and though he knows the letters will never reach their receiver, Ryou neatly prints at the top of the page:

_Dear Amane,_

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A/N: I bet that isn't the type of comfort you were expecting at all! But it is still a type of comfort. I do see Bakura giving the more straightforward type of comfort here. It hurts a lot but honestly, it sometimes works better in the long run.

I wrote this after a really bad day. Like the kind of day where you are like "If the world ends, I'm going laugh as every single idiot human dies." Until you yourself is dead because you are human too. This was the result so I hope you liked it. I'm still working on The Watcher but I am typing up a happier scene in that right now so I couldn't do it. As you are reading this, I'm probably working on it actually. (I don't sleep like ever).

Anyway, Reviews and CC always welcome


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